Merry Christmas from Sagamihara. It is 9:04 p.m on this Thursday. I have just finished cooking and eating my Christmas dinner: Japanese rice, boiled: It tastes and looks like Ndop rice; okra and mushroom, from a dollar store. By the way, 100 yen is about $0.86, or roughly 430 frs cfa. Their dollar store is called 100 yen store. I bought 2.5 kilos of rice for 1,040 Yen ($9/4,500 cfa). That was my Christmas.
Yesterday Wednesday 24, was the last day of school. I will be home till January 5, when we returned from the Winter break.
I had to give a speech during assembly, for the staff and students. There are about 900 students at Yaei High School. In the English Dept., there are teachers from Japan, U.S.A (2), and Germany.
After the speech, two colleagues took me to City Hall for my Alien Registration Card, and later, to the Bank of Yokohama, to set up an account.
As I had my first experience with Japanese bureaucracy, I could only wonder how I would have coped without my colleagues helping me out, translating, explaining, etc. It was meticulous to the point of being scary. I pity the guy with no relevant documentation!
So far, everyone is nice and very welcoming. The colleagues, especially those in the English department, are doing everything to make me comfortable. I think all will be fine during my stay here.
Today, a colleague came and took me to a suburb of Tokyo. The purpose was to show me how to find my way on the Japanese railway system.
(Later on, I will discover how Japanese politeness and deference give way to city jungle mentality inside a metro train. Maybe in another post, so keep reading...)
He showed me a bar, and in an indirect way, said that was where some of the foreign teachers at the school come and drink, because of the availability of Japanese girls. Good information, for those on the prowl! By the way, it's an Irish pub in a city called Machida.
I am expected to start at the other school, Kanagawa Sohgoh High School, in Yokohama, on January 5. Someone will come and pick me up, and then we will take the train. It is a 40-47 minutes ride, from Fuchinobe Station to HigashiKanagawa
Sayonara for now.
Breaking news: new blog!
11 years ago
GREAT TONY THANKS FOR OPENING THIS WINDOW INTO JAPAN
ReplyDeleteLet me try again. I'm very proud of u you know and not surprised at all to hear that u are taking lessons somewhere in Japan. U were among the best students in creative writing and the way you used to develop your ideas during our class discussions was not that of any other student So thank u for pulling the flag of the 1989-1990 batch at ENS Yaounde so far and so high. I'm proud to be your classmate and see that you didn't stop when most of us have kind of resigned. I have no doubt about your success in that class. If u find it worth it you will move from the bottomers to the first rank. I remember u learning more from what other people say being very attentive seemingly looking uninterested but actually learning . That's you!!! Anyway in case of laziness think about an old classmate who would like u to to give her some private lessons in Chinese as from next month , Which I'm sure u will appreciate. PLIZ, keep it up
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